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Attacking feast in store as Leverkusen welcome Hoffenheim

vor 2 Stunden

Bayer 04 Leverkusen are hoping to keep the pressure on Gladbach for third place with a win over Hoffenheim on SaturdayThe Hoffenheim are eying Europa League qualification and can take heart from their last trip to the BayArena, a 3-2 win in March last year

Leverkusen - Fans of free-flowing football are in for a treat on Saturday afternoon as an attack-minded Bayer 04 Leverkusen side welcome gung-ho visitors TSG 1899 Hoffenheim to the BayArena (kick-off 15:30 CEST / 13:30 GMT).

bundesliga.com rounds up all the essential pre-match news and information...

Leverkusen's 3-0 defeat away to Gladbach last weekend may have all-but ended their chances of finishing third, with Roger Schmidt's side now five points off the pace. Fourth spot is, however, already secure. Hoffenheim, meanwhile, are still in contention to sneak one of the final Europa League berths.

The hosts will be without defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos and attacking midfielders Gonzalo Castro and Robbie Kruse, who are all still short of match fitness following injuries. Schmidt otherwise has a full squad available to him.

Centre-back Niklas Süle remains sidelined for the visitors as he recovers from a cruciate knee ligament injury, but arguably of greater concern for head coach Markus Gisdol is the absence of attackers Sven Schipplock (flu) and, in particular, the suspended Roberto Firmino (r.).

Leverkusen greatly missed Karim Bellarabi's pace, directness and eye for goal against Gladbach last week, but the 25-year-old is back after suspension and ready to lead the charge once more. Only five teams have conceded more goals than Hoffenheim this season, so he's likely to find space eventually.

Kevin Volland underlined his importance to Hoffenheim once again last week, lashing in an astonishing free-kick against Frankfurt to take his tally to eight goals for the season. With Firmino suspended, even greater responsibility will fall on his shoulders.

Ömer Toprak (l.): "[Regarding finishing third] You never know what can happen in football. We want to win our last two games and do our bit so that if Gladbach slip up, we're there. It's our last home game of the season so we want to say thank you to our fans with a victory."

Markus Gisdol (r.), Hoffenheim coach: "We've analysed our game against Frankfurt and I hope the team show a good reaction to that game. Leverkusen have had a great season and deserve to be where they are. They're very strong at home but we've already shown that we can win there."

Leverkusen's defeat against Gladbach last week ended a ten-game unbeaten run that had included eight victories, and only three clubs have collected more points than the Werkself since the turn of the year. Hoffenheim have stumbled recently, losing three of their last five, including that 3-1 reverse against Frankfurt on Matchday 32.

Leverkusen have won 11 of the 13 Bundesliga matches these two have played, and triumphed 1-0 away on Matchday 16 back in December. However, Hoffenheim did earn maximum points on their last trip to the BayArena, winning 3-2 in March last year.